Page 3 of Pain and Pleasure

This last day and a half has been so much on my heart and mind, this is the one thing that strangely brings me back to earth. His kiss grounds me, stabilizes me when all it should do is cause chaos. It's a calm before the storm and I want to soak in its presence forever.

My hands go to his neck and my fingers run against the ends of his hair, the small curl wrapping around my fingertips. I wish he was passionate and open all the time like he is when he kisses me. When he kisses me, I feel like we don't need any further communication, it's all laid out right there with the meeting of our lips. I feel like he feels me the same as I do him. Our bond is unspoken yet screaming in our touch. It's ethereal and moving. It's everything a kiss should be, but it's the aftermath that rips through me.

It's the cold shoulder he gives me when his lips leave mine. It's the demeaning way that he treats me when we part, the way I turn into nothing when our skin doesn't touch. It's the aftermath that is my undoing and I refuse to be left undone by him any longer, even if I've almost died. I break away from his kiss and take a few steps back, my fingers resting on my swollen lips. Sergio eyes us and I narrow mine at him.

"Regardless of how you feel about me, you should've walked me to my door. Or at the very least, given me a gun to protect myself."

My narrowed eyes travel to Dante when I say the last sentence. He tries to walk to me again, but I hold up my hands in response, silently letting him know to back off. Before he can say anything, Sergio speaks.

"Would you even know how to use it if I did give you a gun?"

He's trying to intimidate me, make me feel lesser than him. What he doesn't know is that I just sat face to face with my father's gun for over thirty minutes. I'm not really in the intimidated mindset right now. I'm actually kind of pissed off.

"I know how to do a lot of things that you aren't aware of, Sergio." I lick my lips at Dante, twirling my hair around my finger for emphasis. Dante's eyes flare and it makes me want to laugh at him, this affected little boy before me.

"Enough!" He shouts, silencing Sergio and me. I suppose we'll have to continue our beloved banter at another time.

"How did you get here, Emmie? Did he bring you here? Where the fuck is he?"

I've never seen him like this before. It's like he's...panicked somehow. For what reason anyone? Is he not prepared to shoot the man that made me in cold blood? He doesn't think twice when it comes to anyone else. It makes me realize that I have the upper hand at this moment. I finally have details that he doesn't know, and I want to gloat about it for a little while. It seems I'm not the only one in the dark now, so I'm going to rejoice in it.

"Like I said, he's not here. You can put your guns down and call off the search dogs. You won't find anything but empty memories here."

I'm being elusive, but he deserves it. And I can tell that it's driving him wild. He and Sergio lower their guns, Dante waves at Sergio, I guess as a signal to have him leave because he's out of the room and leaving us alone seconds later.

"I know he was with you, Esmeralda. I need you to tell me what happened and how you got here."

I stare at him for a moment. His hair is wild and his eyes are dark. He looks like he hasn't slept since the day before yesterday. Which makes two of us.

Is he finally feeling the restless worry that he constantly makes me feel? Is he finally feeling what it's like to be in my shoes?

"Just because he's not here, doesn't mean it's safe to talk about it." My voice is low, my eyes still narrowed on him. He steps closer and I take another step back. He's not winning this game. Not on my watch or on my terms.

"Then let's go somewhere a little quieter. Let's go home." He says the last word with a whisper, like he struggles to say it out loud. It confuses me.

"I don't think it's necessarily safe at my apartment right now. I just had a gun held to my head outside my front door. I need to find a way to get Ricky out of there."

His eyes widen when I tell him there was a gun to my head, and fury fills them in an instant.

"I meant my house, Emmie. We need to go there in order to be safe." I roll my eyes at him.

"Your house is not my home, Dante. I have no reason to be there. I need to get Ricky out-"

"He's already safe and on the way to my residence, Esmeralda. We're just waiting on you." He sounds smug and my palm itches to slap him once again.

"When you saysafe,do you meanunconscious?" I ask him slowly, my anger already rising like a volcano that's about to erupt. He shrugs at me and I feel the lava running through my veins.

"I did what needed to be done. Regardless, he's not at your shack of an apartment with a gang leader lurking outside."

"You're right, he's just under control from another one." The comment is meant to hurt, but I can tell that it doesn't. It amuses him somehow, because he's a sick bastard that loves control more than anything. And that's exactly why I can't love him, why I can't get close to him.

"Like always, you've given me no choice. Let's go, but I want my own car and when we get there, I want you out of my sight unless we need to talk about my father with other people present. I don't want to be alone with you ever again."

He smirks a sinister smile at me, and it takes everything in my power not to slap it off his beautiful lips.

"Why? Afraid I'll make you come again?"

He sounds so sure of himself. I close my eyes in frustration, willing my patience forward and opening my eyes after a few deep breaths.

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